Mooshmouse

I'll take more comprehensive over faster any day.

Ask and ye shall receive! Tofino, Where to eat and discover? Vancouver Island thread, restaurants has some suggestions Though no kids are likely involved in this trip, Tofino and kid-friendly, Where to eat? also contains some useful tips. Enjoy your trip Erik!

Because I need a companion to do penance along with me in calorie-laden baked-goods purgatory! The cocktail buns that you tried were from Pine House which, as maxmillan said upthread, also do a damn fine job with their cakes, breads and pastries. Saves me a weekly trip to Kerrisdale, although I find myself making the drive out there that frequently as of late.

Canucklehead and PaoPao have been championing Michele's for quite some time; after accompanying Canucklehead there last week for my first visit, I'm now a believer. Their Portuguese egg tarts are the bakery equivalent of crack for me... with all that butter in them, they're just as lethal.

Here's a plated slice of a Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte that *Deborah* baked for a February gathering of Vancouver eGulleters watching Rob Feenie's Iron Chef America victory (photo courtesy of Daddy-A). 'Scuse the Chinet. We were all too busy watching Iron Chef to care about the china... but certainly not too busy to eat this little slice of heaven.

The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, September 14 edition There’ll be tapas in the valley - "While it's hard to beat Madrid's brocheta gambas, those craving authentic tapas only need travel as far as Langley['s La Masia]." (Tim Pawsey) The Georgia Straight Thursday, September 15 edition Best Eating: Don’t have a cow – In search of an oxymoron… Vancouver’s best beef-free burgers (Ron Yamauchi) Best Eating: Nutritionists raise concerns over instant food in lunch bags – “A recent National Geographic issue on obesity revealed that, shockingly, today’s children are the first to have a life expectancy shorter than their parents’. What gives?” (Nick Smith) Uncorked: The “burning water” of Brazil is a hot trend – “Let the cachaça flow, let the limes be drawn and quartered, let the caipirinhas be muddled.” (Jurgen Gothe) Food of the Week: Taste of the City – CityTV’s third annual event on September 17 (Angela Murrills) Drink of the Week: Flavoured teas – T/4/2 from Florida (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: Something fishy – WhatGoesWithFish fundraiser from September 20 to October 2 (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: The last oompahpah – After 10 years in Kits, Sausi’s ramps up to its September 30 closing date with an early Oktoberfest (Judith Lane) The Westender Thursday, September 15 edition (Lifestyles section) Long-awaited Nu sets a five-star standard – “If there were to be a class given on how to properly open an award-winning restaurant, Nu could be its model case study. It could be a four-day course called The Leonard Effect, named after operations manager Leonard Nakonechny.” (Andrew Morrison Terminal City Thursday, September 15 edition You DESERVE a Break Today: When is a McDonald’s not a McDonald’s? When it’s in Kerrisdale. (Lisa Middleton)

My Mom still has a tendency to eat her corn-on-the-cob and her potatoes with both butter and sugar... that's regular baked potatoes, not just sweet potatoes or yams. I used to do the butter and sugar thing with corn too when I was a kid, but now I'm trying to keep Noah from acquiring his Lola's habit so that he learns to enjoy the corn's natural sweetness on his own.

Vancouver eGulleter hopkin does a riff on Vietnamese iced coffee at his shop, the Elysian Room, using cream and maple syrup in place of condensed milk. Heaven, especially in Vietnamese coffee (iced or hot).

I remembered reading a post from a while back in Roland Tanglao's blog, VanEats, regarding this very subject. Lo and behold, here's the post in question that talks about a store called Sate located at 1520 West 13th Avenue. I love Vietnamese coffee too, particularly the iced version. It's the perfect double-whammy of supercharged caffeine and sugar, all in one cup/glass.

Chicken?! Is that just so that non-dinuguan eaters, when asked what it was like, can tell their friends, "Meh. It tasted just like chicken."

It has various names: ginataang bilo-bilo, ginataang halo halo, ginataan, etc. Ginataan is the most generic and describes anything cooked with coconut milk. It's also one of my favourite Filipino desserts although I can't ever eat a big serving -- a bit too rich. It can be eaten hot or cold. My preferred variation includes taro, plantain, and jackfruit. It looks like a thick whitish soup with different colours floating about due to the fruit. ← Thought I'd offer a photo of the ginataang bilo-bilo that I had at Josephine's last week. For this batch, they used ube (purple yam), gabi (taro), saging na saba (plantain banana) and langka (jackfruit) in addition to the tapioca pearls (sago) and the rice-flour balls (bilo-bilo). It's overcast and a little on the cool side here today, weatherwise. Maybe it's time to head back for another bowl of ginataan.

No, it's just turon saging. I've also had it as prepared in this variant of the recipe from PinoyCook.net which substitutes white cheese for the langka (jackfruit); this is how they made it at the Expo '86 Philippine pavilion. Interestingly enough, this turon recipe that I came across also calls for macapuno. I also love Goldilocks's mocha-macapuno and ube-macapuno cream rolls.

Is Brazo de Mercedes (sp?) another uniquely Filipino dessert? I've been told that it is, but have never investigated it. ← Rona, my Google search turned up this article which says that Brazo de Mercedes is of Spanish origin.

I was lucky enough to have some last week; as you can see, this version also had langka (jackfruit) in it. Macapuno in ice cream or atop fresh bibingka. Mmmmm.

Susan, I'll gladly fly down if you've got any leftovers.

Hooray Klary! I hope you liked them as much as the Mouse family does. And Ann, that's one damn fine looking lamb shank.

My husband, the self-appointed house Sandwich Master, is in charge of all tuna melt production. Here's one of his past endeavours. He used chopped chives, tomatoes, sweet pickles, yellow peppers, mayo and a smidgeon of dijon mustard in the tuna salad; occasionally, he throws some raisins in there too. I believe the cheese on top is havarti, either plain or roasted garlic, and the bread is probably Oat and Nut. And he always makes them open faced. Of course, as soon as I mentioned this thread, his eyes sparkled and asked if I wanted one for dinner this evening.

Don't even get me started!

binkyboots, I hereby bequeath to you the eGullet Foodblogger mantle. Wear it proudly and remember to have lots of fun this week!

You know you've been blogging for a week when your four-year-old son turns to you before starting his dinner and says, "Mommy, have you taken a picture of this already?" Did I include everything that I wanted to in this foodblog? Nope. I'm lacking three things in particular: a visit to T & T Supermarket, purveyor of all foods Asian, otherwise known to me as Snack Nirvana; a visit to Chocolate Arts, one of the city's best destinations for sweets; and a visit to the Elysian Room for some outstanding espresso, owned and operated by fellow eGer hopkin. At least I can show you one of my past cappuccinos from the latter. I didn't even get the chance to squeeze in a tour of the most dysfunctional kitchen in the world, showcasing my oh-so-luxurious 22 1/2" cooktop with no explanatory symbols whatsoever and my 23 1/2" oven with completely indecipherable symbols. Kitchen genius, courtesy of Smeg. It should go without saying that I absolutely cannot wait to start cooking in a newly renovated kitchen of my own once we move [insert sigh-of-relief emoticon here]. Gas cooktop, here I come! And heck, I almost forgot to include these photos that Ian took with his PDA of our junior explorers on Saturday's walk through the woods. Hopefully the culinary road that lies ahead of us will be just as exciting as the one that has yet to unfold in front of them. Thus endeth this gastro tour of back-to-school week at the Mouse house... thanks for accompanying me on my culinary misadventures! It's been a huge boatload of fun cooking and eating over the past seven days, knowing that you've all been dining vicariously with me. Your patience and encouragement have certainly spurred me on. I offer yet another heartfelt thanks to everyone for all your kind words. If ever you have the chance to visit our fair city, please drop me a PM. It'd be great to put a face to a screen name, and I'd be more than happy to accompany you on a visit to one of our local Filipino restaurants if you're so inclined. From me and mine to you and yours, I bid you a fond adieu. See you 'round the eGulletverse!

A standing ovation goes out to Chef Jeff, Kurtis and the front- and back-of-house crew at Aurora for an outstanding dinner showcasing the finest, freshest ingredients that British Columbia has to offer. And special thanks to Gary King of Hazelmere Farms for his passion and for so lovingly tending the fruits of the earth. Success! *THUD* That was the sound of me hitting the floor after what must be a record-breaking foodblogging stint. After I pick myself back up again, I'm off to step out into the sunlight (finally!) and pick up my beautiful boy from school. I'll log back in for my final post when we return.

Doh! If you've been following along on this magical culinary ride, scroll back up... I inadvertently omitted the third course but have now inserted it in its rightful place before the fourth course. Last, but certainly not least, dessert. R&B Brewing Spent Grain spice cake with dark caramel and whipped crème fraîche After working my way through this gastronomic extravaganza, the spice cake was a little heavy for me. It was, however, incredibly rich and very tasty. Sugar Pumpkin Tarte Tatin with Pine Mushroom Ice Cream At the outset of the dessert course, Chef Jeff announced, "I have to tell you that, unfortunately, my ice-cream maker died last night. The machine, not the person!" Ice cream consistency notwithstanding, this was the perfect way to end a wonderful meal. The lovely, subtle flavour of the maitake mushrooms rendered me oblivious to the runny ice cream. Delicate, flaky pastry. Sugar pumpkin filling just sweet enough and not cloyingly so. A brilliant dessert, really.

Shaddap, you! If you really must know, I had one sportsbottle's worth of filtered water and an Atkins Chocolate Mocha Crunch bar... had to find something easy to eat that wouldn't leave any crumbs on the keyboard!

Sixth course on deck! BC Artisan Cheese Plate Wine pairing: Tinhorn Creek Kerner Ice Wine 2003 Thanks, Canucklehead, for pinch-photographing and taking this picture while I was off chatting at another table. I'm hoping that Jeff, Kurtis or Andrew can chime in with the names of these cheeses as they were all remarkably good. The figs were a nice added touch. To my dismay, they were out of the Quail's Gate Botrytis Affected Optima 2003 which is one of my favourite BC dessert wines. However, Kurtis's expert suggestion of the Tinhorn Creek certainly did not disappoint.

Fifth course on deck! Surf and Turf: Togarashi Spiced Greenhill Farm's Baby Beef Sirloin with Dungeness Crab Pomme Dauphine and oven-dried tomatoes Wine pairing: Laughing Stock Vineyards Portfolio 2003 There was no sharing with this dish. Ian and I took one look at the menu, saw sirloin and crab and said, "Nuh-uh!" As good as the beef tasted, I felt that the Dungeness Crab Pomme Dauphine was the best part of this dish... wonderfully crisped exterior, lovely and smooth within. I was fortunate enough to sneak a morsel of my tablemate's duck confit leg. Beautifully seasoned. Edited because I inadvertently omitted the third course!